Home Again
by Haberdashing
Summary: One-shot set in the Transcendence AU (transcendence-au on tumblr). Dipper and Mabel have a fateful conversation with their parents not long after Dipper's transformation.


The first thing that Mabel noticed upon waking up was how vigorously Dipper was shaking her.

"MabelMabelMabel wake up!"

Mabel opened her eyes to find that her bedroom was still immersed in darkness, and the girl was only able to see Dipper as a faint outline in the shadows. Her brain was foggy, her eyelids heavy. Her brother really had to learn that _some _people still needed their sleep, especially as the start of the school year approached. That was a whole issue unto itself… the world had been turned upside down and yet she was supposed to go back to school as if nothing had changed. Mabel could already tell that this was going to be a long school year.

"What time is it?" she murmured.

"I don't know-" Mabel glared at her brother, and he quickly retracted his statement. "Okay, so it's after three in the morning, but does it matter? Oh my gosh Mabel this is amazing!"

"What's going on?"

"Come on let's go show Mom and Dad!" Before she could ask her brother to clarify the situation, he was already zooming down the hallway, and she had to sprint to catch up to him. Every light that they passed spontaneously turned on, and Mabel had to squint until her eyes adjusted. Whatever was going on, it must be big.

Soon, Dipper was next to his parents' bedside, smiling broadly. Mabel stood a few feet behind him, her eyes now wide open but her mind still unable to discern the pattern behind her brother's energetic and enthusiastic actions.

"Mom! Dad! WAKE UP!"

Mabel shook her head. No matter how loud he shouted- and, admittedly, the girl had no doubts that she could have heard this one from the other end of the house- he should know by now that she was the only one that would hear his speech. Days of fruitless experimentation had proven that anybody who wasn't Mabel unable to perceive the boy-turned-demon, even when he was screaming in their ear, desperate to be heard.

"Dipper, what are you-"

Their parents tossed and turned, then sat up, rubbing their eyes.

That's when their mother screamed.

Mabel had thought that screeches that loud only happened in the movies, but the high-pitched wailing that filled her ears was all too real. The girl watched as her parents stared, wide-eyed, at the spot where her brother stood, not looking at the lights or her, but at _him_… And she saw now that his feet were touching the floor for the first time in far too long.

Their mother threw a pillow at Dipper's head. The boy stood there, not bothering to duck, and the pillow hit him in the face and bounced off.

"Who _are _you?"

That wasn't her mother's voice. Not really. That wasn't the voice of the woman who had comforted the twins when they cried, who had nagged them into eating their vegetables, who had said farewell when they had set off for Gravity Falls all those months ago. Some stranger must have replaced their mother, because she would _never _talk to Dipper in that tone of voice, no matter what trouble he had caused.

The smile on Dipper's face faded, and the lights in the room flickered. "Mom, it's me, Dipper! Your son?"

"…no, you aren't. You can't be. M-my son is… "

Their father stood up and ran over to his wife's side. "I don't know who you are and why you look like our son, but-"

"Guys, it's me, it's really me! Mabel, back me up on this?"

"Yeah, sillies, it's my brother! I told you guys he was okay!"

"You call this _okay_?"

Mabel looked over at her brother, trying to see what had so deeply frightened their parents. Okay, so he dressed really fancy, admittedly that was a new one. And the black eyes were kind of spooky. But he was still her brother, with that goofy birthmark and those bags under his eyes- and, Mabel now noticed, he was still slightly shorter than her now that gravity once again applied to him. "Well, yeah."

Dipper looked back and forth between his mother, who was desperately shielding her body and forehead with a large mass of blankets and pillows, and his father, who had his fists up in a vain attempt at intimidation. The flickering lights "I- I thought you guys would be happy to see me…"

"Happy to see a…" Their father hesitated to say the word, even though it had become commonplace after the Transcendence, even though Mabel had said it to them hundreds of times. "…a… demon?"

"ENOUGH!"

All the light bulbs in the room burst, littering the floor with shards of glass, and the nightstand spontaneously disappeared, the papers amassed atop it and the knick-knacks hidden within it scattering across the room. Their parents were shaking violently from head to toe now, and their mother had her hands in front of her face and her eyes half-closed, as if to deflect an incoming blow.

Dipper closed his eyes and brought his hand up to his forehead. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"Please… please don't…" Their parents didn't finish their plea, but their actions made the gist of their request clear enough.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"

Mabel put her hands on her hips. "This is ridiculous! Can't you guys just-"

She hadn't noticed that Dipper had left the ground again until he was already nearly touching the ceiling.

"Dipper, wait!" Mabel reached out to grab her brother's leg, but he moved too fast for her, leaving the girl with only a fistful of air.

"…I'm sorry…"

Dipper passed through the ceiling and out of Mabel's sight, leaving her alone in a dark room with two people who now seemed like total strangers.


End file.
